No one would have imagine how bad Malaysia NT will be in 2015. Malaysia played Palestine in Kuantan few years ago for a charity match and the result was 2-0 defeat. That's totally fine given the status of the match. Malaysia almost qualified for Asian Cup 2015 under K. Rajagobal but very few noticed that. As usual, for Malaysians if not qualified, it means we did not qualified. If Malaysia NT is shit, Malaysia NT is shit. As simple as that.
Dollah had such a promising run in AFF Suzuki Cup 2014. He's already feeling the heat after friendly defeats to both SEA countries, Vietnam and Indonesia. His team only drew 0-0 against Myanmar, lost 3-2 to Thailand but to win 3-1 against Singapore is his major turning point. The team went on to beat Vietnam brilliantly in the semi-final 2nd leg, that is why to lose in the final is just upsetting. He brought in an entirely new team, with such a highly questionable selections but very proud nonetheless to be able to make it to the final.
Of course, everyone thought he's the man for the job.
Come 2015, everything changed.
6-0 defeat to Oman.
0-0 draw to Hong Kong.
1-1 draw to Timor Leste.
6-0 defeat to Palestine.
10-0 defeat to UAE.
Dollah immediately resigned after the UAE defeat and even consider of retiring completely from football.
Ong Kim Swee was then appointed as a caretaker. He almost surprised Saudi Arabia but if only the chaos doesn't went out of control, things could have been slightly different. Later, Malaysia won 3-1 against Laos and 1-0 win against Timor Leste. Everything seemed to be going in the right direction once again. Again, that's what they thought. The team in full spirit to play in Jordan, only to lose to Palestine by the scoreline of 6-0. To the same opponent by the same scoreline.
6-0 is too much. That scoreline sounds like Malaysia is so bad at playing football and are not supposed to play football at all. It's like asking the government to ban Malaysian people to play football because Malaysian simply can't play football and doesn't know how to play football.
So what's the problem? Lack of training? Lack of will? Not patriotic enough? Too many mistakes? Bad selections? Bad tactics? Opponent too good? Too many injuries? Need more naturalised players? Need foreign coach? Need U13 players? Bad domestic league? Too many foreign players? Or the usual suspect, FAM? Do all of us even realized what's the real problem here?
Next Malaysia will play UAE on Nov 17 at Shah Alam Stadium. Can Malaysia play good football again, or will it be another 10-0 defeat? Only the NT players can answer that question, but what we do know is all the players really need to buck up. They must do something. No more 6-0.